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| Where could you find Asbestos in a building? |
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The three principal forms of asbestos found in bulk materials are Crocidolite (blue), Amosite (brown) and Chrysotile (White). Chrysotile is the form most commonly encountered.
In the past, asbestos proved to be a suitable constituent of many materials due to its heat resistance, mechanical strength, chemical inertness and its ability to be easily woven into fabrics etc. It therefore found use in pipe lagging, spray coatings for fire protection, insulation boards, heat seals and electric cables, wall cladding, roofing materials guttering, down pipes etc.
USES AND APPLICATIONS OF ASBESTOS
PAINTS AND SURFACE COVERINGS eg "Artex"
ASBESTOS CEMENT
Flat and corrugated sheets, tiles, drainage and rainwater pipes, gutters, flues for boilers and ascots, high pressure water pipes, steam pipes, water tanks, wall ventilators, fire surrounds.
LOW DENSITY ASBESTOS CEMENT
Insulation boards, roofing products.
INSULATION BOARDS
eg. Asbestolux, LDR, Marinite and Turnabestos
Cladding for walls, ceilings and structural steelworks. Acoustic and thermal insulation.
Fire retardation. Sometimes found in the form of shipboards.
LAGGING (TO PIPES, BOILERS AND CALORIFIERS)
Pre-formed sections and slabs or wet plastering. Note that asbestos ropes, tapes, corrugated papers, quilts, felts and blankets are also found lagging boilers, etc. In the past, woven asbestos quilts filled with loose asbestos were sometimes used for insulation of hot water cylinders, calorifeisrs, etc.
SPRAYED COATINGS
Fire protection to structural steelwork, thermal and acoustic insulation, condensation prevention.
CAULKING MATERIALS (JOINTINGS AND PACKINGS)
Found anywhere a fireproof seal is needed eg. ovens, sections of system built dwellings, sealing holes in service ducts, joints to soil pipes ("PC4").
ASBESTOS YARNS AND ROPES
Mainly used to seal joints (eg. boilers, flues, chimneys, etc.) as a rot-free fire stop (eg. where pipes go through a wall) or between components in plant and machinery.
ASBESTOS CLOTHS AND TEXTILES
Fire blankets, fireproof clothing, oven gloves, safety curtains and blankets
ASBESTOS PAPER
Electrical insulation, (eg. in switchgear), fireproof facings, heat reflective layers to boilers and electric storage heaters.
MILLBOARDS
Mainly used for thermal insulation eg. steam pipes, industrial ovens, sheet metal ductwork in industrial heating systems, cylinder head gaskets, etc.
ASBESTOS/VINYL FLOOR TILES
Also backing to PVC floor coverings - "Lino"
REINFORCED ROOFING FELT AND DPC
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